PHP Basics

Basics of PHP (taken directly from w3schools.com) What is PHP? • PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor • PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP • PHP scripts are executed on the server • PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.) • PHP is an open source software • PHP is free to download and use

What is a PHP File? • PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts • PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML • PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml" PHP code is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent to the browser.

Basic PHP Syntax A PHP scripting block always starts with . A PHP scripting block can be placed anywhere in the document. On servers with shorthand support enabled you can start a scripting block with . For maximum compatibility, we recommend that you use the standard form (